Gujarat HC rejects contempt petition against police over Dr Atul Chag’s suicide

Dr Chag, who used to run a hospital in Veraval, was found hanging at his home on February 12. A purported suicide note recovered from his home accused BJP Junagadh MP Rajesh Chudasama and his father Naran Chudasama of compelling him to take the extreme step.

On February 17, Hitarth filed a complaint with the Veraval police stating that his father died by suicide as Rajesh and Naran had not returned about Rs 1.75 crore that Dr Chag had lent them in 2008, and had instead threatened him with “dire consequences” if he demanded the money back. A case of accidental death was registered but no FIR has been registered till date.

The investigating officer, Sunil Ishrani, contested the maintainability of Hitarth’s petition on the ground that contempt jurisdiction can only be invoked before the Supreme Court, where the Lalita Kumari judgment was pronounced. And Hitarth’s advocate, Yogesh Lakhani, had conceded earlier that the petition might not be maintainable before the high court. The Lalita Kumari judgment lays guidelines for registering FIRs of cognisable offences and prescribes a time-bound inquiry for non-cognisable offences.

The bench, while disposing of the petition, said it had not gone into the merits of the case or Hitarth’s allegations but allowed him to “take out appropriate proceedings as may be permissible in law.” “It may be that the applicant is aggrieved by the action of the respondent (police officials) but remedy is not the present petition, it must be before the appropriate forum,” the bench concluded.